Wednesday, February 20, 2019

20 February 2019 - the process



He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,
“Do you see anything?”
Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”

Salvation is seldom a one time event. Maybe the good thief on the cross approaches that paradigm. Who can say? But for many of us during our first encounters with Jesus we aren't yet ready to hand everything over to him. We need a second encounter. 

Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.

Most of us don't have the purity of heart to see God clearly. In fact, our ideas our vague shapes, which, while better than nothing, don't always inspire great confidence or make it easy to make firm decisions.

The flood is over but we cannot immediately exit the ark. Even though we have been baptized we are still waiting on the dove to give us the clarity we need about our next move. Jesus wants to touch our eyes to give us clarity of vision. The Holy Spirit wants to show us the way to the new creation. If we exit the ark too soon we drown. If we don't wait on Jesus to fully restore our sight we stumble and fall.

We might say that we need to be patient with our process. And this is true. But we need to be insistent with it as well. We need to keep sending the dove to scout for dry land. We need to keep asking Jesus for help until we are fully healed. We see that we don't need to be embarrassed to tell Jesus that we aren't perfect yet. He doesn't take it personally that the blind man isn't healed in one go. This grace given to the blind man to be honest with Jesus is perhaps part of what allowed for the clarity of the second healing. One thing is certain. We must seek his healing touch until our eyes are opened.

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our hearts,
that we may know what is the hope
that belongs to his call.

Jesus is waiting to take us to the next level, and then the level after that. It is an upward call to which there is no limit in this life.

 How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD. 



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